1. Technical Field
This invention relates to animal grooming devices, and more particularly, to an animal washing system.
2. Description of Related Art
Essential to the washing and drying of domesticated animals are five basic steps: 1) wetting the coat, 2) applying a cleaning agent such as a soap, shampoo, or detergent, 3) rinsing the cleaning agent, dirt, debris, parasites, and other foreign matter from the animal's coat, 4) extracting any residual agents, dirt, debris, parasites, or foreign matter from the animal's coat, and 5) drying the animal's coat. Traditional methods require considerable effort before, during and after the process. For example, before the washing and drying can begin, various items such as soap, brushes, hoses, buckets, towels, and the like are needed and must be gathered together. Once all the necessary items are assembled, the process tends to be very messy due to the splashing of water from scrubbing the animal and/or the spray of water due to the animal shaking. Then there is the cleanup after the process and some individuals consider that the worst part of the whole ordeal.
Also, the traditional methods of washing animals normally consumes large amounts of water that is not only relatively expensive but is also wasteful. Another issue with traditional animal washing methods is the effort that is required to apply a cleaning agent to the animal because considerable effort must be used with the hands to message the cleaning agent into the animal's coat. Not only can this be very time consuming it is often exhausting work. After the cleaning agent has been applied to the animal, particular attention must be paid to rinsing the animal because some animals are very sensitive to some cleaning agents and it is extremely important that the animal be thoroughly rinsed to ensure that there is no residual cleaning agent left that could cause irritation. Another aspect of the washing process that is very important to the well being of some animals is the drying process because if some animals are left wet, they can easily become sick. What is needed is a device and method that can help alleviate or reduce the above mentioned problems. It would be especially beneficial if the device and method could improve the rinsing and drying of the animal.